Lost in Memory
by xX-Star Sapphire-Xx
Summary: One year later after Ansem was defeated, everything is calm and quiet on Destiny Islands. Only there's something to be missing, and only Kierra and Kairi seem to see that. Can they figure out what or who could be missing in their lives? RikuXoc Spoilers
1. Chapter 1: The Lives of Kierra and Kairi

Hey! Another story I'm posting up. This series is finished on Quizilla, but it's still going to be kinda slow to post on here because I'm planning on rewriting it. This story was from 2 years ago when I was just starting to write and since I've learned a lot since then, I plan on changing the writing style in this story. :D

* * *

She couldn't see a thing, not because it was dark. Everything seemed blurry to her and she couldn't see anything well at all. It was like she needed glasses. From what she could tell, she was standing on a floating island of sand and a tall white door stood before her.

She wasn't alone in this strange place. There were others with her. A short boy with spiked brown hair was there along with a girl with short reddish-auburn hair and a tall boy with somewhat long silver hair. There were also animals there too. A large white duck wearing blue clothes and an extremely tall black dog wearing clothes also and was standing on two legs.

Her mind didn't seem to know what was going on, but her body surely did as it would move around without her mind telling it to do so. She ran up to the silver-haired boy and wrapped her arms around his torso while beginning to cry on his shoulder.

The boy put his arms around her also and whispered in her ear, "Kierra, can you promise me something?"

All she could do was nod as more tears rolled down her tanned cheeks.

"Promise me we will never forget each other."

She lifted her head to look into his teal eyes and nodded her head again.

"I promise."

Though she couldn't see well, she could see the smile on his face. They both let go of each other and he walked over to the large door where the other boy and two animals were at. The silver-haired boy walked into the door and helped pull the door shut as the other three pushed it.

Her tears fell faster at that time and she quickly ran over to the auburn-haired girl...

**Beep! Beep! Beep!**

Kierra hit her alarm clock to shut it off and tiredly sat up in her bed. She stretched her arms up into the air as she let out a big yawn.

_I had that dream again..._

She hopped out of her bed and quickly changed out of her pajamas into a blue plaid skirt, a white button up shirt with the sleeves rolled up a little bit to shorten them, tied a blue plaid tie that matched her skirt loosely around her neck, and hopped into brown shoes.

Usually, it would take Kierra to hit the snooze button on her alarm clock about seven times before she could actually get up. But everytime that she would have that dream, she never could get back to sleep.

After she brushed her teeth and placed her brown hair with natural lighter brown highlights in a high ponytail, letting her bangs to fall to the right side of her face, she went downstairs. Her parents weren't up yet, like usual, so she just took a banana from the fruit bowl that was on the kitchen table and left the house, not forgetting to bring her bag also.

As she walked down the street, Kierra began to look at the silver chained bracelet that was on her right wrist. It had four charms on it; a star, a crescent moon, a dolphin, and a heart charm. It was her most prized possession. Too bad she couldn't say how she got it. She doesn't remember anything. Only that one day her wrist was bare and the next, it was sitting on her wrist.

Since she wasn't paying any attention to where she was going, she bumped right into someone.

"Oh, I'm sorry," she quickly apologized while looking up to see who she bumped into. She saw a girl who was a little shorter than she was and had shoulder-length auburn hair with blue eyes. "Kairi! Hey!"

"Hey, Kierra. I see you're looking at your bracelet, _again_," Kairi said, cheerfully and putting emphasis on "again."

"Well, I can't remember how I got this so I thought maybe if I stared at it, the memory would pop into my head," Kierra explained. After a moment of silence between the two, she said with a laugh, "That sounded so much better in my head."

Kairi laughed also and said, "It makes sense though. So, anyway, what's up?"

"Nothing. Just totally excited for Spring Break! As soon as school let's out Friday, we are heading to the beach!"

"That's what we do everyday, Kierra."

"So? We're going to be on break now. It's going to be completely different! We can even go onto that little island. We haven't gone to that in forever!" she exclaimed while throwing her arms into the air, taking her bag and banana with them. She looked up and noticed she was holding onto the yellow fruit. "Oh, I completely forgot I had that."

Both girls laughed, Kairi's sounding a little more fake than Kierra's. And Kierra noticed this.

"What's wrong?"

Kairi waited a second before answering. "Have you been getting this feeling that something is missing?"

"Something missing?" Kierra's mind went back to the dream she had the night before. In her dream, she had known the silver-haired boy. She's had dreams before where she's known people that she didn't no in real life, but in her dream, it actually felt like she knew him from somewhere. "I guess so, yeah. A little bit. Why?"

"I don't know. It's just a feeling I've been getting."

Suddenly, the a loud bell began to ring. The two girls looked at eachother with wide eyes before they screamed "We're late!" and began running to the school.

**.: - :.**

During class, Kierra couldn't keep her mind off of that dream. It never bugged her this much before but after the conversation she had with Kairi, she was beginning to think she actually knew the two boys, and animals, in her dream.

While the teacher was lecturing about something in history, Kierra was doodling in her sketchbook. That was what she did when she had something on her mind. Some people played sports. Some people would read or write. Kierra would draw. It was like she was in some other world when she drew and everything that surrounded her disappeared. But sometimes, being in another world can be a bad thing.

"Kierra!"

"What?" she said startled by hearing her name being called. She looked towards the front and saw that her teacher was now glaring at her.

"I've called your name about five times now," the teacher said, obviously angered at her. "What is the answer to the problem on the board."

"What?" she said again and looked at the math problem that was shown. She could have sworn she was in history. And there was one of the many side effects to being in her own world. "Um, 23?" she answered in a questioning manner.

"You're lucky, Kierra. That is correct," the teacher stated and started to explain why she was right.

**.: - :.**

After school, Kierra hurried home to change out of her school uniform she hated so much. She changed into a dark blue miniskirt (with shorts underneath), two tank tops (a light blue over a dark blue), and a short sleeved denim jacket with the bottom hem ending about a couple inches above her belly button. Then quickly, she put on white tennis shoes and ran to the beach.

That day was one of the days that she and her friend Tidus agreed to spar with each other. They would spar about four times a week when Tidus wasn't practicing blitzball with the team at their high school.

When Kierra finally got to the beach, Tidus was all ready there with two wooden swords stuck into the ground beside him.

"Ready?" he questioned while his arms were crossed over his chest.

"Ready as I'll ever be," she mumbled loud enough for him to hear.

"Is something wrong?" he asked, noticing the strange tone in her voice.

"Nah. I just have a lot on my mind right now," she told him. "It's all right. I'm fine as long as we spar my way."

"Fine," he said, smirking. He wasn't very good at hand to hand, which was what Kierra liked, but he was confident enough that he knew he was going to win. "Just don't cry when you lose."

"Ha! You forgot all ready!" Kierra stated cockily while taking her position in the sand and lifting her fists into the air. "I never lose."

**.: - :.**

"Ah!" Kierra screamed and she flew back and landing on the sand, hard. She lifted her body up a little bit, leaning on her left arm, and used her other arm to rub the side of her head. "Ow. That's definitely going to hurt tomorrow."

Tidus ran over and offered his hand to her to help her up. She gladly took it and started to brush the sand off her clothes.

"When you said something was on your mind, you weren't kidding," he joked as he crossed his arms again. "You should always have something on your mind. That way, I'll win all our sparring matches."

"I'll get right on that," she said sarcastically while rolling her eyes. "I'm gonna head home. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Bye!"

Kierra ran home, leaving Tidus on the beach by himself. When she got home, her father was setting the table for dinner while her mother was cooking.

"You're home. How was school?" her father asked her when she walked into the room.

"Boring, like usual," she said, slightly distracted. She was looking around the room for something. "Do you know where my school bag is?"

"I put it in your room," her mother answered.

"'Kay. Thanks!" she said and ran out of the room to the stairs.

"Don't get comfortable. We're eating shortly!" her father called after her.

"Not hungry!" she called back and then the slam of her bedroom door shut.

Kierra walked around her room until she saw that her school back was placed nicely on top of her desk. She quickly rushed over to it, opened it up, and pulled out her sketchbook. Moving her bag to the floor, she placed her sketchbook down on her desk and flipped to the page of her last drawing.

There wasn't a clear picture yet, still being that there were lines everywhere on the page. She could have finished it in class but with her teacher looking at her every fives seconds after she got in trouble, she was somewhat scared to continue it.

Taking out a pencil, she continued to draw her unfinished masterpiece.


	2. Chapter 2: Dark Dreams & Broken Promises

"Where... Where am I?" Kierra asked herself as she looked at her surroundings. She saw nothing but black all around her. The strange thing was, she was able to see herself fine, like the floor, walls, and ceiling of a room were painted black.

"Is anybody out there?" she called out to anyone who could hear. "Can somebody help me?"

She frantically looked around to find any source of life or a way to get out of where she was but found none. It was starting to scare her because she was alone in the dark. Suddenly, she jetted off in a direction, hoping that it would lead her to something other than darkness.

"I gotta get out of here," she told herself as she looked around as she ran. In doing so, she bumped into something and fell to the ground. "Ow," she muttered as she rubbed the lower part of her back. "That hurt..."

She looked up to see what she ran into and saw a tall figure in, what looked like, a black cloak with it's hood up. The hood made a shadow over the figure's face so Kierra could not see what it's face looked like. The figure practically blended in with the surroundings, so it was no surprise that she ran into whoever it was in the first place.

Kierra stood up with no help from the figure in front of her, and rushed off the imaginary dirt that was on her skirt.

"Who are you?" she asked, rather rudely. She just wanted to get back to Destiny Islands. "Where am I?"

She was able to see the figure shake it's head a "no."

"That doesn't answer any of my questions!" she said, annoyed. "Who are you? And where is this place?"

The figure turned away from Kierra and shook it's head again.

"Trust me. You don't want to know," it finally said. It's voice was very deep, sounding like an older man maybe in his thirties or forties.

"Ooh. The figure speaks!" she replied back sarcastically. "Is that the answer to your name or where we are?"

The figure looked over it's shoulder at her and said, "Both." Then he began to walk away.

"Wait!" she called out to him. "How do I get out of here?!"

"Find the light," it answered and then disappeared from her sight.

"That still doesn't help me!" she yelled, thinking maybe that strange figure had heard her. She collapsed to her knees and sighed. "Find the light... What light? I don't understand."

Kierra looked around again and sighed once more. She sat down on the ground and pulled her legs into her chest.

"I don't want to be here alone," she whispered as she began to shiver. She didn't realize how cold it actually was until then. "I don't want to be alone. Someone, please find me."

Suddenly, something bright hit Kierra's skin. She looked up and saw a very bright light in front of her. It was like someone opened a door to the sun. Shielding her eyes with one arm, she stood up and began to walk towards it.

**.: - :.**

Jolting up in her bed, Kierra gasped and began to breath heavily. She looked around in her surroundings and saw that she was back in her room on Destiny Island. Sweat was running down her face as she held a hand to her fast beating heart.

"That had to be the strangest dream I've ever had in my entire life," she whispered and her heart began to slow down. She looked outside and noticed the sun hadn't rised yet.

Slowly, Kierra got out from under her covers and walked to her desk. She turned on the lamp that stood on it, shining light onto her opened sketch book. It was still opened to the page of her last drawing. She tried to finish it the night before but ended up getting tired and going to bed. Since she was up, she decided to finish the drawing.

**.: - :.**

Tiredly, Kierra walked into her first period class on time. She dragged her feet to the desk beside her best friend, Kairi, and plopped down in the seat. Kairi wasn't paying attention since she was talking to Selphie at the time, but the loud "thump" that she heard from Kierra's head hitting the desk caught her attention.

"Kierra?" she asked slowly, unsure what her friend was doing. "Are you okay?"

"Not really," Kierra replied truthfully. "I didn't get much sleep last night and I'm dead tired."

"Hey there, Kierra," a flirtacious voice spoke to her that made her stomach feel naucious... in a bad way.

"Please tell me I'm still dreaming, Kairi," she practically pleaded to her friend without lifting her head from the desk.

"I'm so flattered. You dream of me," he said in the same tone.

Kierra lifted her head and glared at the tall, black-haired teenager standing beside her desk.

"That's not what I meant, Dex," she said while rolling her eyes. She stood up for more effect and angrily placed her hands on her hips. "I meant that I'd rather be in a nightmare than see your face in reality."

"That hurts, Kierra. It really does," Dex said in a fake sad tone while placing his hands over his heart. "It breaks my heart into tiny pieces."

"Why don't you go stuff yourself in the dumpster out back? That's where all the other trash belongs."

"Kierra! Dex! Take your seats right now," the teacher told them and they both did so, Kierra sitting in the chair she was previous sitting at and Dex moved to the back of the room.

It wasn't even nine in the morning and Kierra could already tell it was going to be a very, very long day.

**.: - :.**

"I'm going to head home. I'll talk to you later, Kairi!" Kierra told her friend before she began to run down the street.

"Bye!" she could hear Kairi say back as she was already half way down the street.

It was after school and all day, all Kierra could think about was that dream she had the night before. She wasn't sure if she could even classify it as a dream. It wasn't cheerful or happy like dreams are suppose to be, but she decided that it wasn't a nightmare either because it didn't scare her like nightmares should.

It felt more like reality. No, she didn't live in a world where it was dark surrounding her, but if felt so real, too real to be a dream, but that didn't make sense to her either. Since she couldn't decide, she was just going to continue classifying it as a dream until she figured out what it really was.

When she reached her home, she ran back into her room and pulled out her sketch book once again.

She was just about finished with her drawing. It was a rough sketch with no color but grey and white from the pencil and paper, some out of place lines here and there, and then there were also the eraser marks.

After she placed some finishing touches on it, she was finally finished. She set her pencil down on her desk and walked over to her bed, carefully studying her finished picture. Then she laid down on her bed and looked at all the details she had made.

The picture of a teenaged boy. He was standing in front a long opened window with one hand on the side paneling while he was glancing over his shoulder, almost like he was looking at her. He had semi-long, layered hair, just reaching his shoulders, and he wore a sleeveless shirt with black straps on it. The picture stopped at his waist so there was no telling how tall he was. Though the window shown dark silhouettes of homes with lit windows and stars shown brightly in the sky. That had to be one of the more descriptive part of her drawing. Next, were the boy's eyes.

Though one eye could be seen, he had a calming look to them, yet they looked easily angered. They showed bravery and courage, yet cocky. They showed so much emotions, it was hard for someone to tell what the boy was feeling at that moment. Kierra was able to see one emotion stick out more than the rest, and it was happiness. It was a simple word, but the only word to describe how the boy looked like he felt.

_"Promise me we will never forget each other."_

"Promise..." she whispered, remembering the dream she had just a couple nights ago. "This is him. The boy who made the promise..." she realized. She closed her eyes and tried to remember exactly what the boy looked like in her dream. "I forgot about him..."

She lowered the sketch from her sight and noticed the window. It looked exactly like the one that was in the picture. Quickly, she stood up and ran over to the window, opening it up, and looking outside. She wasn't quite sure what she was looking for, but looking at the picture somehow gave her the message to do so. But when she looked outside, all she saw was her the edge part of her roof, where she often would go in the middle of the night if she had trouble sleeping, and a small part of her town.

"I broke our promise..." she stated sadly, while looking at the ready to set sky. "I'm so sorry... Riku..."

She had no idea why she said the name, but when she did, she remembered everything. Who the boy in the picture was. What the empty feeling she had inside was. Even why she had a vague memory of what happened a year ago. Everything came back to her.

"I'm so sorry..." she whispered again and finally closed her window.

What Kierra didn't know was that she was not alone. A dark figure appeared out of the shadows between her home and her neighbors. It looked up at the window she was just looking at and shook his head before disappearing into the darkness.


	3. Chapter 3: Day On The Beach

Laying down on the beach, Kierra was looking at the white fluffy clouds above her. She was trying to clear her mind from everything. School, her friends, her family, even Riku. Everything she though she just began remembering him, the very thought of him made her feel so horrible that she forgot about him. It hit her even harder when she remembered her fourteenth birthday...

_It was late at night and Kierra was happy to be home. It was her fourteenth birthday and she was at her grandmother's house celebrating it with the rest of her family. She didn't mind it, but she would have rather stayed at home with her friends than sit in a smelly old house with crying cousins surrounding her._

_"Finally, home at last," she said as she fell face first onto her bed. For a moment, she didn't even want to get up until she heard a knock. She looked over at her door and saw that it was wide open. There was no way someone was knocking on her bedroom door. Plus, both of her parents went to bed and were most likely sleeping by then. "Huh?"_

_The knock came again and it sounded more like someone was hitting glass. Kierra looked towards her window curiously. Her window was shut and curtains covered it so she couldn't see it. Cautiously, she got out of her bed and slowly walked to her window. Whoever was knocking continued to pound on the window lightly, making Kierra slightly scared. Who would come to her house late at night? And go to her bedroom window for that matter?_

_Making it quick like a bandaid, she opened the curtain and the first thing she saw was bright teal eyes through the glass. It scared her and she gave out a small yelp while jumping into the air, falling onto her butt._

_"Kierra! It's just me! Riku!"_

_"Riku?" Kierra got off the floor and opened her window, revealing a silver-haired teenaged boy. "Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry!"_

_Riku laughed and climbed into her room. "It's okay. Don't worry about it."_

_"Well, what are you doing here? Aren't your parents going to kill you for staying out so late?" she asked him._

_"They don't know I'm out..."_

_"What? You're going to get-"_

_"... I had to give you this before your birthday ends," he continued to speak over her. That was when Kierra realized he was holding a small white box with a red bow on top.  
_

_"Oh, Riku... You didn't have to give me anything..."_

_"Just open it." Riku gave her the box and she hesitantly opened it. A silver chained bracelet with four charms on it: a heart, a dolphin, a crescent moon, and a star. Kierra looked at the piece of jewelry in awe._

_"I love it! Thank you so much, Riku."_

_"Now if you ever need me, just hold this and I'll be there. No matter what..."_

She sighed heavily and held up her arm her bracelet was on. She looked at it with pain and sadness, feeling absolutely horrible about what happened. Unclapsing the chain, she held the piece of jewelry in her right hand and looked at each charm closely, as if it were the first time she had seen them.

"Where are you, Riku?" she whispered and dropped her hand so that it landed on her chest, just by her heart. "I need you..."

Her eyes were closed at this point as she made her silent wish. The only she could hear were the sounds of the waves crashing into the sand and wind brushing passed her face. The warmth she felt on her skin from the sun went away, making a sudden chill run up her spine. She opened her eyes to see who was blocking her way since the skies were a clear blue that day and gasped at who she saw.

It was someone in a long dark cloak with it's hood up, hiding their face. Just like the person in her dream.

"Who are you?" she asked whoever it was. She was going to get answers, whether the mysterious person was planning on it or not.

"I, uh, can't tell you that," he said.

Kierra's heart sunk when she heard his voice. It didn't sound anything like the one from her dream. The man in front of her sounded like he was just a little bit older than herself by a few years, and by the wavering of his tone, she could tell he wasn't the bravest one in the universe.

"Then tell me why you're here." He may not be the one man she thought he was, but they dressed the same so they had to know each other which meant they worked with eachother so they had the same plans in mind.

"Um, well..." Quickly, the man turned around and pulled out a small white card. "'Take the girl. If needed, use force. Don't kill her,'" he read and sighed. "They definitely chose the wrong guy for this job."

Kierra's eyes widened hearing the man read the card. He was ordered to kidnap her, but why?

"There's no way I'm going anywhere with you!" she told him stubbornly while standing up. "If you think I am, you are dead wrong."

"Aw man. They really did choose the wrong guy for this job," he whined.

She held up her hands into the air like she was ready to throw a punch at any second and said, "You better tell me why you want to kidnap me or you're gonna get your lights knocked out."

"I don't think I'm allowed to do that..."

Kierra knelt down and swung her leg around so that she tripped him and he fell to the ground. As he fell, his hood slid off his head, revealing a short blonde mullet hair-do and bright green eyes. She got back up and stepped on his chest so he couldn't move anywhere. She lifted her fist to punch him in the face, but he lifted his arms into the are as if to tell her to stop.

"Wait!" he yelled. "What if I said I knew where Riku was?"

_Don't listen to him, Kierra,_ her mind told her. _He's lying._

"How do you know Riku?" Kierra asked him, playing along, but her stern expression on her face never changed. Deep down, she really did want to know which was one of the main reasons why she asked.

"I... don't really remember..."

"You can't be serious..." She sighed and shook her head lightly. "You're not very good at this kidnapping thing, are you?"

Before the man could answer, Kierra felt a light tap on the back of her neck and suddenly felt light headed. Bringing a hand up to her head, she tried to shake off the feeling, but it wouldn't go away.

"What is going on?" She looked around trying to figure out what was happening. Darkness then consumed her vision and she passed out. The last thing she could remember was someone catching her before she hit the sand.

**Sorry for the lateness! I've been really busy and such with getting ready for finals and my recitals and stuff! I'll try to update more soon!**


	4. Chapter 4: AXEL

Light and heat had touched her face as Kierra slowly came back from unconsciousness. She only had a slight headache from passing out, but other than that, she was fine.

It was strange to her as she began to familiarize with her surroundings before opening her eyes. She felt the warm sand of the beach underneath her small body and the light that she could feel on her from the sun. She knew she was still on the beach, at least, she hoped she did. That man that was ordered to kidnap her might be playing a trick on her to think she was back home when she really wasn't. Then again, the man didn't seem like the sharpest tool in the shed.

Using her hands to block out the sun, she opened her eyes and saw that she really was still on the beach.

"What happened?" she whispered to herself and closed her eyes back again.

"You fell asleep on the beach again," a voice told her in a laughing tone. "I swear you and Sora are more alike than you two actually admit."

"What?" Kierra sat up in the sand and saw that Kairi was sitting in the sand next to her watching the waves crash into the sand.

"You two are definitely related somehow. You might not have the same parents, but you act like you're brother and sister," Kairi continued to comment. Then she looked at her brunette friend and said, "You both sure like falling asleep on the beach."

Kierra laughed lightly and said, "For the hundredth time, we are not related." Stretching her arms out and letting out a loud yawn, she asked, "How long have I been out?"

"I don't know... I just got here right before you woke up," Kairi answered. "How can you sleep on the beach? Don't you get hot?"

Kierra stayed silent for a moment, debating whether or not to tell Kairi what really happened. With a sigh, she made a decision and said, "Can you keep a secret?"

"Yeah. What's up?" Kairi said, noticing the seriousness in her friend's tone and got curious on what she had to say.

"I really didn't fall asleep on the beach," she started to explain as she looked around to see if anyone was around that could be eavesdropping. She recieved a strange look from Kairi before she continued, "There was this weird man dressed in a black cloak and he wanted to kidnap me. I fought him and I was able to get him on the ground when I felt someone hit me on the back of my neck and I passed out. You believe me, right?"

"Of course, I believe you. With everything that happened a year ago, there's very little I don't believe," Kairi told her.

"Okay, good. I didn't want you to think I was crazy," Kierra said with a small laugh. "But why did that guy want to kidnap me? I'm nothing special. Just a teenaged girl going through life wondering where the heck Riku and Sora are. And who could have made me pass out? And why didn't they take me when I was unconscious? The man's plan was to kidnap me after all, right? Why didn't they take me when they had the perfect chance?"

"You ask too many questions, Kierra. Be thankful you're all right and you have a guardian angel looking out for you."

"Okay, okay. You're right. But still..." Kierra saw the look that Kairi was giving her and stopped. It was one of those rare glares you see from Kairi and when you do, it made anyone want to shut up. "Nevermind."

The two girls stood up to go home when Kierra realized her arm felt a little bare. She looked down and saw that her bracelet was no longer there.

"My bracelet! I lost my bracelet! I have to find it!"

Kierra began to dig through the sand when Kairi grabbed her arm to stop.

"Kierra, the sun is setting. We can come back out here tomorrow to find it when it's brighter out and we can see better."

Reluctantly, the brunette slowly nodded her head and stood back up in the sand. Her most prized possession was missing. She didn't want to leave the beach without it, but she knew Kairi was right. She would never find it in the dark. Plus, her parents would kill her if she stayed out all night to look from a small trinket, even if it meant so much to her.

_I have to find that bracelet tomorrow. I just have to..._

**.: - :.**

"It has to be here. It just has to be!" Kierra yelled as she dug through the sand with Kairi beside her helping. "It just has to be."

It was the next day and Kierra had been searching for her bracelet since the sun came up. Kairi came soon after that, knowing exactly how Kierra was with her bracelet, to help. It was late in the afternoon and they have been searching nonstop for the small piece of jewelry, but they had no luck with it. They did find some loose cash, but that didn't matter to Kierra. She was determined to find her bracelet.

"Did you take it off anywhere else?" Kairi asked, still looking around. "We've searched almost every inch of this area of the beach and we found nothing."

"Yes. I was standing right here with it when that guy came and tried to kidnap me... Oh my... I bet that guy took it. That guy took my bracelet and is now planning on using it as bait to reel me into a trap and take me away. That evil-"

"Kierra! Calm down. I think you're over exaggerating a little bit."

"No, I can't calm down. If I don't have that bracelet when Riku comes home, he'll... he'll..." By the end of her sentence, her voice cracked a little bit and she stopped digging in the sand.

"I see..." Kairi whispered and stopped also. "Riku gave it to you."

"Yeah..." Kierra said in the same tone as her friend. "I had this funny idea that when he returns, he'll see that I'm still wearing the bracelet he gave me a while ago and know that I've been waiting for him to come back and everything will go back to the way it was before all this happened with the worlds and stuff."

Kairi slowly stood up after hearing her explanation and looked out into the ocean. She looked so deep in thought so Kierra decided not to talk anymore.

"Maybe... waiting isn't good enough," she spoke. It was like she wasn't talking to Kierra anymore. It sounded like she was talking more to herself than anyone else.

My thoughts exactly," a voice said from no where. It was unfamiliar to both of the teenaged girls and they looked around to see if they could find the body the voice belonged to. "If you have a dream, don't wait. Act. One of life's little rules. Got it memorized?"

Kierra stood up and began to look around quickly around her, waiting for anything unexpectedly to happen. Strange things have been happening to her and she could tell that this was one of those strange things.

"Who are you?!" she yelled out to whomever was talking.

Then right on the beach, a dark black and purple showed up and a man much taller than her appeared. He had bright red hair that stood out like a sore thumb. It was spiked back so that it somewhat resembled a porcupine. His flashing green eyes stood out just as equally while the two small green specks on each of his cheek bones finished his facial features. His clothes were just like the other two strange men Kierra had met: a black cloak.

"My name is Axel. I happen to be an acquaintance of Sora's," the man who called himself Axel answered. Kierra gave him a glare not quite believing he knew Sora while Kairi looked at him curiously.

"What does you knowing Sora have anything to do with being here?" Kierra asked him. "Why are you here?"

Axel didn't look in Kierra's direction at all. He just looked at Kairi and held out his hand. "I can take you to see him."

"..Sora?"

"Kairi, don't believe him. This could be a trap," Kierra tried to tell her friend. "He's wearing the same outfit one of his gooney friends was wearing when he tried to kidnap me."

Kairi took a moment to think of what to do. Kierra looked at her, not understanding why she was even thinking about what to do next. In that time, a dog barked, interrupting her thoughts and the two girls turned their attention to the yellow dog with big eyes and a long skinny black tail.

"Pluto?" Kierra said, confused why the King's pet was in her world. "How did he..."

Suddenly, four white figures appeared around Kierra, Kairi, and Pluto. They almost reminded Kierra of heartless, but they looked so different. She came to the conclusion that they couldn't be heartless with how they looked.

_W-What are these things? _she thought as she continued to look at the strange forms surrounding them.

A whistle was soon heard and another dark cloud appeared behind the two girls. Pluto ran into the portal but not without giving a bark that said to follow.

"You two and I have something in common. We all miss someone we care about," Axel added, trying to convince the girls to go with him.

Kairi finally made her decision and ran over to the portal while saying, "There's no way I'm going with you!"

Kierra ran to catch up with her. This could be the only way to find Riku and she wasn't going to let anything get in her way from that. Too bad she felt something grip her arm and made her stop from going to the portal.

"Let go!" she yelled at her captor and saw that it was Axel who was holding onto her. "Didn't you hear me the first time? I said let go!"

"Sorry. I can't do that," he said with a smirk.

"And why not?" she asked angrily as she saw the dark portal dissipate. She huffed and glared daggered at the red-head holding her arm. "There goes my last chance to find him. No thanks to you."

"I can help you find Riku."

"Like I'm going to fall for that one again. One of you pals already tried that one on me," Kierra said while rolling her eyes. "I doubt you even know who he is."

"Silver hair, torquios eyes, cocky attitude? Yeah, I know him."

Kierra gasped, not really expecting him to know who Riku was. Then she, going against her intincts, actually thought about what to do. To trust this Axel guy who was most likely on the same team as the last dork who tried to kidnap her or to punch him right in the nose. Now she understood why Kairi hesitated before.

Before she knew it, a force pushed her into the warm sand and she was no longer in Axel's grip.

"What the..." She couldn't finish her sentence because the person who she figured pushed her down was standing in front of her. And the person was the man from her dream. Even though she had seen many people with the same outfit and his hood was up, she could tell just by feeling his presence that it was the same man from her dream. "It's you... From my dream... But how..."

"There's no time. Get out of here," the man ordered her and she scoffed in response. She doesn't run away from anything.

"No way. I want to fight," she told him and stood up. She stood next to him with her fists up in front of her, ready to throw a punch in a blink of an eye. She noticed the mysterious man holding something that seemed very familiar to her. _What the... That looks like a..._

While she was in her daze, the man began to fight Axel. The man tried to keep Axel's attention away from Kierra but it didn't go according to plan.

"Watch out!"

"What?" Before Kierra could look to see what was going on, she saw Axel's spiked wheeled weapon aka chakram was coming straight at her. There wasn't enough time to dodge it so she quickly placed her arms in front of her to help protect her body. The next thing she knew, she was thrown back and hit her head on a large rock. Soon she became light headed and then blacked out.

**Yep... This chapter sucks, I'm sorry... The next chapter will be better. Kierra will finally get out of her mini depression and show her true personality. :D I'll try to post the next chapter as soon as I can.**


	5. Chapter 5: A New Place With Strangers

Birds sang beautifully in the trees as the morning sunrise arrived. The morning light glistened through the window and hit Kierra's sleeping eyes. She squeezed her eyes shut, not ready to be woken up yet and buried herself in the covers and pillows that were on the bed she was sleeping in...

"Ah!" Kierra screamed and jumped up in the bed. She looked around at her surroundings and noticed she was in a poorly decorated, old room in some house she doesn't know. The last thing she remembered was being on the beach on Destiny Islands and Axel was there with that one mysterious man. "Where am I?!"

"It's about time you woke up..."

Kierra jerked her head towards the door that led to the hallway, she assumed, and saw the mysterious man. He was leaning up against the wall with her arms crossed over his chest and his foot also against the wall to prop his knee out. His hood still shadowed over half of his face so she couldn't see what he looked like at all.

"Where am I?" she repeated in a much softer tone, but more tempered. She was glaring at him as she waited for her answer.

"Twilight Town."

_Hm... A new world... Yes! I'm one step closer to finding Riku! _she thought, seeing as she didn't recognize Twilight Town as a place near her home.

"How long have I been out?"

"A day."

"Where's Kairi?"

"Not here."

"Well, obviously." Kierra rolled her eyes when she spoke, not liking the answer he gave her. "Do you know where she is?"

"Yes." Kierra stayed silent, waiting for the man to tell her where Kairi was, but he said nothing.

"Are you going to tell me?" she asked him, growing impatient with every second.

"No."

"You're a lot of help," she said sarcastically. "Can you at least tell me your name? I don't want to call you 'you' everytime I see you."

"No."

"Okay... You're strange..." she stated while she slowly got out from under the covers and let her legs dangle off the side of the bed. Her head was beginning to throb so she placed one hand on the side of her head, hoping that would stop the pain. Obviously it didn't work since the pain didn't subside.

"That's what happens if you don't listen to me," the man said simply, noticing her pain.

"Don't start with that crap. I already get enough of that from..." Kierra stopped talking, seeing as she was about to say _his_ name. She didn't want to answer any questions the mysterious man might have from her sudden change in attitude and decided to quickly change the subject. "I'd like to take a look around Twilight Town, so if you don't mind..."

"You will not be going anywhere, Kierra," a new voice entered her ears. Kierra looked over at the entrance to the room she and the strange man was in to find another strange man in strange red clothing with a cape and wrappings around his entire head. The only visible part of his face were his bright yellow eyes and his mouth.

"Who are you?" she asked him, curious to know who he was and how he knew her. "And how do you know my name?"

"That is none of your concern."

"And that answers what question?"

"Both."

"Man, both of you are just full of answers, aren't ya?" Kierra said and crossed her arms across her chest, not pleased with the information she was not given.

"And you're just full of questions," he mocked back and began to laugh. Kierra looked at the man strangely, not seeing what was funny.

"Wouldn't you if you were taken while unconscious to a house in a town that's in a completely different world than your own and meet wierd people the first thing you wake up?" she asked in a sarcastic manner before standing up. "Now if you don't mind, I'm leaving this place to find my friends."

"Not so fast, Kierra. You must save your strength," the red man said, blocking her way from the exit. Kierra looked over at the cloaked man as if asking for help, but he didn't move a muscle.

_So much for that,_ she though while sighing heavily and looked back at the other man in the room.

"And may I ask why I need to save my strength? My head feels fine," she told him, not understanding why this man was so worried about her health. "Plus, fresh air is good for the body so going through town would be a good thing."

"You're still not leaving this mansion."

"Great. I'm away from home and I still get treated like a child," she pouted.

"You are still a child," the cloaked man finally entered the conversation.

"Now you speak," she gasped out somewhat angry. "And I am **not** a child. I'm fifteen, thank you very much."

"You're still not leaving this mansion. And to make sure you don't, Namine will be watching you."

"Now I have a babysitter? You're worse than my dad! And I don't even know who you are!"

"This is goodbye, for now," the red-clothed man said and walked out of her room with the cloaked man close behind.

Knowing that the Namine person was going to be coming shortly, Kierra just jumped on her bed and screamed and aggravation. "Some plan that was. Now I'll never find Riku."

**

* * *

**

Sorry for the shortness of this chapter. I was planning on making it longer, but then my whole plan would screw up. I'll post the next chapter when I can!


	6. Chapter 6: Questions With No Answers

So, Kierra met Namine and found out that she wasn't the best person to enlist as her "babysitter." Namine wore a white sundress with matching white sandles and had blonde hair pulled over her right shoulder with blue eyes. When she came into Kierra's room, you could say, she carried a sketchbook with her. She looked like an innocent girl that didn't want to put harm on others. She definitely didn't look like she could keep Kierra in the mansion by herself.

Though she could sneak out at anytime, Kierra didn't. After meeting Namine, they talked and realized they had a lot in common. They loved to draw. They had much more in common, but drawing seemed to stick out the most. Also, Namine seemed to remind Kierra of Kairi.

It was now the next morning. The birds sang and the sound of soft bells rang in the distance. Too bad Kierra was rudely awaken to enjoy the beautiful morning... A loud horn sound woke her up unpeacefully. She jumped up, scared at the sudden noise and her comforter fell on the floor.

"What the...?! What was that?!" she yelled and turned her attention to the door where the mysterious man was, holding a horn in his hand. "It was you?!"

"It's time to wake up."

"Wake up? What time is it?" she asked him, still angry that he woke her up. It was really waking her up was the problem. It was what he used to wake her up. "And did you have to use that obnoxious thing to wake me up?"

"It's 6:30," he answered with no emotion. "And yes, I did. You're not a very easy person to wake up."

"And how would you know that? You don't know me."

The man just stared at her and didn't bother to answer the question. Instead, he said, "Get up. It's time for your training."

"Training? What are you talking about?" she said, looking at him confused. Then realization hit her. "It's 6:30 in the morning?! I don't even wake up that early for school! You're crazy!" Kierra grabbed the blanket off the floor and quickly covered her body with it as she hid her head under the pillow. "Wake me up in two hours."

"No. Now." The man pulled off the blanket. Kierra curled up into a ball and covered her head with the pillow. She was determined to get more sleep, even if that meant she had to be cold for a couple of hours. "Did I mention that we're leaving the mansion?"

Kierra jolted out of her bed with her eyes wide open, staring straight at the man. Was he being serious or was he just pulling her leg? She could really care less at the moment. She lost all train of thought when she heard "leaving" and "mansion" in the same sentence. If she was going to figure out a way to find Riku and Sora, she had to know exactly where she was and how she was going to use it to her advantage.

"So, where are we meeting?"

.:-:.

"When you said 'leaving the mansion,' I was expecting a more populated place," Kierra stated as she looked around at the environment she and the cloaked man were in. "I was thinking, oh I don't know, somewhere outside the mansion gardens!"

"I said we were leaving the mansion. I didn't say we were leaving the grounds," the man said in a "matter of fact" tone. "You just assumed, and you know what that does to a person."

"Haha. You're funny," she said sarcastically, while rolling her eyes. Angry, she turned towards the mansion and said, "Since you tricked me, I deserve 3 more hours of sleep."

Kierra didn't notice it, but the man used a dark portal, similar to Axel's, to transport himself in front of her, with a weapon in his hand. She stopped in her tracks and glared at him. That was until she noticed the weapon in his hand. It looked so familiar. It reminded her of a...

"A keyblade?" she whispered, staring at the weapon. She couldn't believe her eyes. It had to be a keyblade. If it wasn't, then she wasn't sure what it was. But she was a hundred percent sure that the weapon in the strange man's hands was a keyblade. Slowly, Kierra raised her arm and pointed at the weapon. "Where... Where did you get that?"

The man didn't move. She couldn't see his face, but she could feel his gaze on her, making her feel very uncomfortable. She was also getting angry that he wasn't answering her questions.

"Well? Are you going to tell me?"

"No."

"Why? I have a right to know." That wasn't really true. Kierra just wanted to know. The only way someone could weild the keyblade was if they were chosen. And as far as she knew, Sora was the only one. She didn't think it was possible that more than one person can be the keyblade master, but this man couldn't be a wielder, could he? "You can't possibly be a keyblade wielder, can you?"

Again, he didn't say anything or move a muscle.

"Or did you steal it?" She wasn't sure how it was possible since the keyblade won't let anyone touch except for the wielders of it. She was still unsure of how the keyblade works and everything else along with it.

Then, catching Kierra completely off guard, the unknown man swong his keyblade at her. With her good reflexes, she jumped back and dodged the attack completely.

"What the heck?!" she yelled at him. "What'd you do that for? I didn't do anything to you!"

"Fight me."

"But I don't want to." The man swung again, but she was able to dodge it just barely. "Will you stop it?!"

"No," he answered as he swung once more. "The only way you'll get out of this fight is if you fight back. So fight."

"Why do I have to fight?" she whined, dodging another swing. "Plus, I think you're at a very unfair advantage with the **keyblade** and everything."

He rose his weapon in the air, ready for the next strike. Kierra looked around to find a way out, but she was backed into the corner of the 10-foot brick wall that surrournded the yard. She had no way to avoid it. She could try and climb up the wall, but she wasn't a very good climber. Even ask Sora. He had to help her a lot on their last adventure together.

Kierra saw the keyblade coming her way. She closed her eyes and hoped that he wouldn't actually hurt her, though she didn't actually believe he would stop anyway. She used one arm to cover her face to help protect her head. Then she heard a noise, sounding kind of like two metals hitting eachother, and she didn't feel any pain. Slowly, she opened her eyes and did not expect to see what she saw.

In her hand was a light blue crystal blade, and it didn't look just like a blade. It looked like a keyblade. A crystallized version of one. It was so strange. Ignoring the fact that the man was still there, she began to study it. The blade itself was a bit rough since it looked like someone carved it out of a large crystal. And when the sunlight hit it, it made beautiful designs on the brick wall and grass. The handle was smoothed out for an easy, yet firm, grip for when she would fight.

"Lesson one completed," the man stated before walking back into the mansion.

"Wait!" Kierra called out to him. "What are you talking about? 'Lesson one completed?' What does that mean?" she began asking numerous questions. She couldn't understand how she was holding a keyblade. It just didn't make sense to her at all. "How do I have this? Why do I have it? And why aren't you answering any of my questions?!" she continued, beginning to yell when he continued to walk without looking back. Then she began chasing after him to continue to pester him with questions until she received answers.

**

* * *

****Hope you liked this chapter! I'll get the next one out as soon as I can. I just got a job and everything. I was suppose to get a puppy, but I ended up not getting one because I didn't have the money for it. :( **

**Anyway, tell me what you think! Things start to get very interesting in the next chapter. Don't forget to review!**


	7. Chapter 7: To Train Or Not To Train

How could she have a keyblade? That was all Kierra could think about. She wasn't the one chosen to have it. Sora was. He is the bearer, the master… There was no possible way she could hold one in her hands, but she did. Somehow, she was able to summon it the day before while "training" with that man who still hadn't given his name to her yet.

The morning light shone through the window and it fell onto Kierra's face. She winced from the rays and hid her face under the blankets. She wasn't able to get much sleep because she was trying to figure out how it was possible to wield such a weapon. A weapon that was supposedly only chosen one strong heart; Sora's.

Then, creaking from her bedroom door opening ran through her ears. She let out a groan and curled her body into a ball. She was determined to stay in bed, no matter what that guy did to her that morning. Footsteps then were heard coming towards her bed, and she knew that the guy was here.

"Get up," was all he said like that was actually going to make her move.

"No."

"Now."

"Over my dead body."

"That can be arranged…"

Kierra was confused at his last statement. He wouldn't be able to do anything, at least that was what she believed. So, she decided to go back to sleep. Not a moment later, her mattress began to move until it flipped from underneath her, and she fell to the floor.

"Ow!" she yelled in pain. She glared at the cloaked figure and said, "What is with you and waking me up in harmful ways? Do you enjoy watching me suffer?"

"A little bit, yes."

_A small brunette girl was swimming around by the small patch of land that she called Paopu Fruit Island which was just off the coast of the island she and her friends would play on. She was cautiously looking around, trying her best to not make any sound. Then she let out a sigh, happy not to see anyone there._

"_Found ya!" she suddenly heard then before a pile of seaweed landed on her head. She screamed from it and looked up on the island. There stood a silver-haired boy who was laughing at her._

"_Riku!"_

"_What, Kierra?" he asked, acting like he had done nothing wrong. _

"_You know what!" the girl exclaimed and began to get the seaweed out of her hair. It was all tangled so it was frustrating her to get it out. That made Riku only laugh harder. For someone who thought they were so cool to have any feelings but an attitude sure was having fun laughing at her. "Do you enjoy watching me suffer?"_

_Riku's laughing calmed down a little bit as he replied, "A little bit, yes."_

Kierra's eyes were wide as she remembered that memory to the detail. That was on Riku's thirteenth birthday. Sora wanted to play hide and seek on the island. Everyone agreed but it took a while before we could convince Riku. He claimed he was "too cool" to play that game. It ended up that Riku probably had more fun playing it than Sora, Kairi, and herself. That memory wasn't what shocked her though. It was what the man said to trigger it.

"_A little bit, yes."_

He said it just like how Riku would say it, and it scared her. This man was definitely no Riku, but they had some of the same qualities. It scared her knowing that there was someone else that acted just like her best friend.

"Let's go," the man stated, making Kierra jump out of her thoughts. He began to walk out of her bedroom as he said, "It's time for Lesson Two."

"Lesson Two? What's-?" Before she could finish, the man left her room and closed the door behind him. Kierra let out a frustrated sigh from constantly getting unanswered questions and began to get ready for more training. She would fall back to sleep, but she knew that he would come back up. That was the last thing she wanted. Everytime he did, she somehow ended up being in pain.

**.: - :.**

"Okay, I'm here. What next?" Kierra stated lazily as she walked into the mansion gardens. There was the cloaked guy with his keyblade out (which she was still trying to figure out) and practicing some stances and movements. He stopped when he heard her speak to him.

"Summon your keyblade," was all he told her.

"Okay, but before I do," she said, suddenly getting an idea in her head. She didn't want to do any training and wasn't sure how to summon her keyblade so this way, she would get what she wanted and stalled him at the same time. "I want to ask a couple questions. Then we can go onto training. Deal?"

He didn't say anything, just stared at her. She was certain he didn't want to go along with the terms, but she pretended he did.

"Good. Now I-"

"If you don't want to train, why don't you say so?" he told her before she could begin to interrogate him.

She was certainly not expecting that. This changed her plans completely. She thought she was going to get her answers she had been wanting for days. What was she going to do now? Play along. It was the only thing could do.

"Really? I don't have to train? I could go back to bed?" Although she was happy at the thought, she wasn't necessarily sure that that was what the man had in mind. There had to be some twist to what he said. He wouldn't just say that after everything. "What's the catch?"

"Nothing, but just a warning… Don't blame me if you're attacked and you don't know how to protect yourself," he told her as he began to walk towards the mansion. "Oh, and if you summon your keyblade, then your training will begin again."

"What are you talking about? I can protect myself," she told him as she crossed her arms over her chest. She didn't care about the arrange of training. She didn't know how to summon the keyblade so there was no worry there. She just didn't like the fact that he assumed that she couldn't protect herself because she didn't want to train. "I know karate. That's all I need to know. I don't need some key to help me with my fighting."

"Are you sure?" he asked, stopping right as he got to the backdoors. He looked over his shoulder to look at her. It drove her nuts that she couldn't see his face at all.

"Of course, I'm sure. I helped Sora beat Ansem last year. Do you really think I need a keyblade to defeat my enemy? No," she said stubbornly, closing her eyes. "I can beat anyone with one hand tied behind my back."

"Is that a challenge?"

No, was what Kierra wanted to say but she didn't get the chance to. The man teleported over to her and swung his keyblade at her. She closed her eyes and was able to successfully blocked the attack.

"What the heck?! I thought you said no training!" she yelled as she opened her eyes. The anger quickly left her face when she saw what she was currently holding in her hand. A keyblade. "No way! You tricked me!"

"So? Now let's continue your training."

"Fine," Kierra said, giving up. She didn't feel like arguing with him any longer. She knew she was going to lose anyways. "What's first?"

"Sparring."

"Sparring? Really? That's it?" An idea sparked in her head. She was going to make another little wager with him and she was determined to win this time. "How about we make things interesting? If I win, you have to answer some questions. If I lose, I will continue my training without any complaining or constant questioning. Do we have a deal? Or are you scared?"

"Deal."

Then, he swung his blade, making her jump into the air and land a few feet away. Her forte was hand-to-hand, not blades or weapons of that sort so she had no idea how to fight with the keyblade. If she could somehow figure out a way to make that man lose his keyblade, then she would be in good shape. She could just hit a few pressure points from there and it would be easy to pin him down. She just needed a way to get ride of his keyblade first.

The man swung again and again and Kierra only kept dodging them. When a block knocked them both about twenty feet away from each other, Kierra figured out what she was going to do. At the same time, they both began running towards each other. At the perfect moment, she dug her keyblade into the ground and used that to push herself into the air while sticking her foot out to kick the man in the chest. The man easily blocked it with his keyblade, but that was what Kierra wanted him to do. Quickly, with her other foot, she kicked his keyblade hard enough for him to let it go. Unfortunately for her, she didn't kick it hard enough and the man was still able to have a grasp of it with one hand.

She had to think quickly and pulled her keyblade out from the ground. She tried to swing it at him but he swung his also and the two clashed together. She wasn't strong enough to take the blow and she fell down to the ground while her keyblade landed a few yards away.

Kierra was angry that she could fall so early in the match and she hit the ground with her fist. "I can't believe I lost… I thought for sure I was gonna win..."

From the corner of her eye, she could see the man in the cloak walking and stop right in front of her.

"I win."

"I know, I know," she grumbled as she rubbed her head.

She looked up and saw the man sticking his hand out to help her up. She smiled lightly and placed her hand in his. When she did, a small spark touched her hand, but strangely it didn't hurt. Then, she could see a silver-haired, turquois-eyed, teenaged boy standing in front of her instead of that man who was just fighting her. After she blinked, she saw the man in the cloak again.

"Riku…" she whispered after he pulled her up to her feet.

The man's body tensed at the name and Kierra saw this. He recognized the name. That meant that he knew Riku which meant that there was a possibility that he knew where he was.

"Do you know who Riku is?" Kierra questioned as the man began to walk away. He wouldn't answer her but she continued to bother him. "Please, you have to tell me. Do you know where I can find him? If he's safe? If he's-"

"Don't forget the deal," he stated and disappeared into a portal.

Kierra groaned, completely forgetting about the bet. That guy knew Riku somehow. She just knew it was true. Now she just had to get the truth out of him. Too bad she had no idea how to do it.

* * *

**Sorry it took a while for this to come out. I made it long, though so hopefully that would make it up. Right? ^_^ Anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter. review please! I love hearing from you! And thanks to everyone who did review on previous chapters. ^_^**


End file.
